Education Romania Project #22268

Education for 50 disadvantaged Romanian children

by IBO ITALIA

Project Report | Dec 6, 2021
Craciun Fericit!

By Benedetta Campia | Project officer

Since the Pinocchio Center reopened, about a year ago, after months of difficulties due to the pandemic, it has managed to come back to its life, accompanied by new faces, old friends, stimulating projects and many children and young people who run to animate it.

With the reopening, the Romanian staff together with local volunteers and volunteers from many countries of the world has restarted the activities at full speed, also involving new members and making their skills and creativity available every day.

2021, it was an incredibly intense year full of great results: the school reintegration of some minors who had dropped out of attendance during the months of the pandemic, the strengthening of the local network with other associations, the organization of awareness events within the community, the launch of new projects and collaborations.
The family of the Pinocchio Center grows and we can only be proud and grateful for all the work done so far!
With this report we would like to introduce you Oana, an educator of the Center Pinocchio who, after many years of working in kindergardens in Bucharest and in other towns in Romania, came back to her family home in the countryside on the outskirts of Panciu, and has become part of this adventure alongside us.

Follows a recent interview and through Oana's words we let her talk to you. We wish you enjoy the reading!

1. Oana, what is your role within the Association Lumea lui Pinocchio?
I am an educator and my role is to value children to be independent, creative, tolerant and empathic.
From here all problems can be solved: if they are creative they find solutions, and if they are independent they can manage on their own. If they are tolerant and empathic they will know how to work as a team.
I try to prevent the difficulties encountered by disadvantaged minors in their educational path.
My goals are to improve socio-educational services, to promote intercultural dialogue and Roma culture in the local community of Panciu.

2. How long have you been in education? How did you find out which is right for you?
I have been working as a teacher for 10 years, this is my 11th year. I worked as an educator in my first year of university. I completed a high school in theology and a faculty in the same field. But since my internship in high school, I had a very strong bond, I really liked the idea of being a teacher. From the first year I have had a deep bond with children. When I first met them, I said: "This is my job". Then I became interested in how to enroll in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, to have all the documents in order.
Last year I joined the Lumea lui Pinocchio Association of Panciu.
And for me it was a very big challenge at the beginning because these children come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they need more knowledge, more support, but above all a lot of affection and emotional support. And at first they were afraid. The first thing I did was hug them, I noticed that it was what they needed, affection. Unfortunately, society has marginalized them and they lose trust very easily.
When we visited the neighborhood where most of them live last year, I understood the precarious condition in which they live and it saddened me a lot but at the same time I felt I had to do something. We have to make them happy, because they need it. They were very happy to see us. They always asked us: when do we start? When do we start? (The center was closed then, because there was a strong pandemic wave). For them, any gesture of affection and attention is of great value.
The Pinocchio Center is a blessing for them, because here they have a hot meal, they are helped with their homework, they can talk to someone in case of problems. They need advice, they need someone to be with them, they really need you to be their friend. In addition to helping them with their homework, we are there to emotionally support them. They need to talk to someone, to be heard, to feel that you care about them and that you will accompany them with all their problems.

3. How would you describe the children? What do they have in common or what lessons do you learn from them?
Above all, I looked for simplicity and calm, I made things as natural as possible and I always had a smile on my face, because every situation has a solution.
A child (several years ago, when I was working in Bucharest) always said to me: “doamna, it's nothing, it's nothing, let's move on”. And this lesson stuck with me.

4. We all know how demanding children can be, how do you manage to keep calm, balance, between them but also between you and them?
I remember that around 2018 I was working with a group and among them there was a little girl very energetic. She would get under the table, throw toys, don't want to participate in activities and ask myself, "How do I change this behavior?"
And I realized that she needed love and attention.
And I thought, "I'll spend more time with her." And so the little girl told me: “Doamna, I like kindergarten, I'll be back”. I complimented her, gave her important homework, for her to be my helper, and from a very agitated child she became a very good and happy child.
It is very important to be with them and to trust them.

5. How does a day take place at the Pinocchio Center? How do you plan your activities?
Every morning together with the volunteers, we decide how we will approach the activities with the children.
Children spend 4 hours at the Center, from 12:00 to 16:00. They arrive from school, wash their hands and eat together in the canteen the meal prepared by the cook, Mihaela.
After lunch we have recreational activities. We play interactive and energizing games, outside or in the classroom if the weather is bad.
Follows the homework schedule and then the recreational activities again. In the part of the program dedicated to non-formal education activities we have days with different topics, a day for science, a day with practical activities and others in which various games are played: logical, creative, dynamic, didactic.
The recipe of the Center is the theme of love. So let's start our day: first we hug each other and then we start the activities.
Our team is wonderful, any business we do together. We ask ourselves: is it okay? We work together, we advise each other, everything we do, we do it for the children.

6. Do you think you will do the same job in the future too?
Yes, I feel fulfilled in this field, I would not see myself doing anything else. The best thing for me is to be among the children or as I call them, ingerasi (little angels).

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And it is with Oana's words that we want to leave you a message for this Christmas: by continuing to support education we can, step by step, bring that necessary change for the lives of these children to be fulfilled in the best way, to give them the possibility to become truly autonomous, creative, tolerant and empathic, accomplished human beings ready to live in harmony with themselves and others.

This is our drop in the ocean, this is the dream of the Pinocchio Center which continues tirelessly, also thanks to your precious help, to always seek new forms to reach it.

Merry Christmas from the heart, on behalf of IBO Italia and all Lumea lui Pinocchio. Craciun Fericit!

Lumea lui Pinocchio & IBO Italia

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Aug 9, 2021
A better future - a journey after the post Covid-19

By Federica Gruppioni | Project manager

We grow together

Landing finished, the wheels roll quickly and the speed decreases. Here we are. Hurray!

I love to fly but that anxiety of the first flight never leaves me.

Here we are: Otopeni International Henri Coanda, Arrivals.

After a couple of hours I'm on the bus on my way from Bucharest to Panciu. From the window the road runs fast, the landscape returns to being familiar to me as if I were here the day before. And it is nice to see the Romanian countryside. In summer it is decorated by large coloured sunflower’s fields.

After 3 and a half hours of travel, on time, we arrive in Panciu. I take my big suitcase plenty of different things that people gave me knowing I was going to Panciu: carnival costumes, sweets and Italian coffee for the staff and volunteers.

I get off at the so called "Notar" (Notary) bus stop, because it is just opposite the notary's office. The statue of Ioan Slavici with the serious look is in its place in front of the school and on the other side of the street I see the "Piata", the market and shopping area, with benches crowded with Roma families who frequent the Pinocchio Center.

The children are the first to crank their necks with curiosity. Someone came from outside. Then the mothers, aunts, grandmothers, brothers and cousins, and the other indefinite relatives turn and talk to each other with their eyes turned towards me. A few hands rise and say hello. I greet too.

Someone gets up and starts crossing the street to come and see more closely, always the children are the first.

The questions begin: who are you? Your name is… Linda? And another suddenly intervenes "ba nu este Federica".

And I am amazed to see how much the children have grown up. Fernandito (little Fernando) is now taller than the elder Fernando. So, now I realize that a year and a half has passed and in between there has been, and unfortunately there still is, a pandemic.

And while other questions follow one another “How long are you staying? Why were you away? Do you remember of this person and the other one? ", the volunteers of the Lumea lui Pinocchio association arrived. The kindly came to welcome me at the stop.

Right now the Romanian staff is helped by a nice team of 7 volunteers from different countries: Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and even Bangladesh! Some of them arrived in October 2020 others more recently in March 2021.

Every day the volunteers help to serve lunch and snacks, they invent games and workers every day.

During the school period they supported the children in distance learning. Many children who attend the Pinocchio Center have no computer or internet at home, and they are not supported by their parents. For them, the Pinocchio Center was the only chance to not lose the school.

Jade, a French volunteer who arrived in Panciu last October 2020, saying that: "In June we prepared a show with them, with dances, theatre. They presented to their parents. Everyday we propose different activities to help the children to learn new things, based on a thematic: on Monday it's creative, we do origami, paintings; on Tuesday, we organize workshops about different important topics (bullying, violences, body consent, team work). Sometimes we use short movies to start to talk about a subject that the movie is about. Wednesday it's sport, we play games all together in the garden, we try to create a new game each time, where they have to run, use a ball, and cooperate. Thursday its strategic games. They played treasure hunt, labyrinth. And on Friday we do life-skills activities like gardening, sewing, cooking. We also try to promote healthy food and we cook different fruit-based recipes. "

My 10 days in Panciu run very fast into an atmosphere of reborn serenity, meeting the children at the Pinocchio Center, playing with them and with the smiling, generous and welcoming volunteers and staff. I came back to Italy together with a young volunteer who finished her 11 months of Voluntary Civil Service, she arrived in Panciu at the end of September 2020.

In her final report she wrote: “I'm Gabi, I'm 27. Thanks to IBO I was able to realize one of my dream: to have an experience abroad like the one just ended in Panciu. At the Pinocchio Center I worked with Roma children (approx. 4-13 years) with disadvantages, unfortunately. Illiteracy is widespread. Even more serious, however, is the lack of care.

Among the families of the children that attend the Pinocchio Center, we often face another important social problem: the alcoholism. And when this problem occurs, children are left behind, and even without food, due to economic difficulties or negligence.

Me together with the other volunteers and the staff of the Pinocchio Center have worked and are working, to help those children have a better future and at the same time to break down the rooted thought of prejudice towards them.

In these months I have had the opportunity to carry out many different recreational / educational recreational activities with children with the team of volunteers, the educator Oana and Mihai the coordinator, but also didactic activities to try to fill the serious basic gaps: knowing counting, doing simple math operations, learning letters and reading. Each activity is designed to develop a specific area; example: sensory-motor area: movement, outdoor sports activities; sensory area: develop the 5 senses; emotional area: knowing one's emotions and then becoming familiar with them, through the theatre.

The work of the Center is very important for these children as they need a safe place suitable for them, where they can find the support they need, care, attention, and at least one meal a day.

I think in this way they can have a future - in the future. "

I return home thinking that generosity really can change the world. I really THANK YOU because you believe in this project and support it.

Thank you for being part of this wonderful team which, despite the efforts, the fear of uncertainty about tomorrow, we believe that by helping children we can build a better future.

Water game

Gabi

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Apr 13, 2021
The best language course: Learning with children

By Letizia sabba | Project Leader

The year 2021 has started in the best way in the Center Pinocchio! Lights on, doors open, the smell of freshly baked cake populated by faces and stories from many different countries: France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Vietnam! In the office, the new coordinator and social worker, Mihai, is committed to promoting and supporting the activities of the center in the best possible way, to create a network on the territory, to strengthen relations with the families of the beneficiaries. In the kitchen every day Mihaela prepares hot and always different meals with her mother's hands, to feed the children who have just come out of school and the volunteers who are waiting for them to spend the afternoon together. After lunch, divided into groups, our volunteers together with Oana give support in carrying out the tasks and propose non-formal education activities to develop the creative potential of all the children present. Given the gaps accumulated during this year of pandemic for children who were unable to follow school consistently, it was decided to build a "special" program to recover the basics necessary for attendance and understanding of the lessons, made up of games and engaging activities to train the basics of writing, reading and math, cultivating the motivation to learn.
One of the volunteers present through the European Solidarity Corps program, Elena, decided to tell us about her experience of these first months of service, made up of surprises, great challenges, learning and new friends!

Buna ziua!

My name is Elena, I am from Berlin and four months ago I went to Romania to do a social voluntary project with children in Panciu, a small city in the eastern part of the country. Many people have been asking me „Why Romania?“ and I always thought to myself „Why not?“. The world is big and I want to see as much of it as possible! And it is true - ever since I left my country, I got to know a whole other world that I never could have imagined before. Being part of a project in an unknown context really made me get the feeling than I am more than a tourist and I want to share with you here what i mean!

The Center Pinocchio is a daily Center for children, most of them are part of the Roma community. After school, they come here and we have lunch together and help them with their homework. After this, we do creative activities or games outside, at one point we also did a treasure haunt through Panciu. For this, we hid small notes in different places, starting at the supermarket, and then proceeding at the pharmacy and the local Cafe – and in the end they recieved a price. So you see – we are trying to be creative!

On the one hand, we sure want them to have fun and be happy, but on the other hand, we also try to support their education. Many of them lack essential bases, like reading, writing and calculating with bigger numbers. But not because they are stupid or simply don‘t want to learn but because their school system does not provide enough help for them. Besides this, their family sitautions are often complicated, dealing with violence or alcohol problems – shortly: they often lack the needed support.

This is why we started with a special afternoon program where we seek to expand their bases. We try to keep everything non-formal in order for them to have fun and stay motivated. Even if this is not always easy - with the right methods we have already done a lot - and with the time I have become really creative! Once for example we did a game where they had to write letters using their butts or a big maths game where we hid the results for the different tasks all over in the room – so it stays exciting!

It is clear that the childrens‘ life will not change just because of an afternoon program done by volunteers but it is essential to ensure the basis in order to be able to do the fist step to break the circle. With some children that I have been doing plus and minus tasks regularly during the last weeks, I could already notice some progress and seeing the children so happy and proud was unbelievable and one of the most beautiful things I have experienced here so far.

For what concerns the language I have made the experience that there is no better way of learning than learning with children! As almost none of them speak english we have no other choice than doing everything in Romanian and by doing this, the progress comes very quickly. The most popular sentences are: „Nu vreau“ (I don‘t want to), „Nu mai vorbesc cu tine“ (I don’t talk to you any more“) but also „Te iubesc“ (I love you).

Of course, it is not always easy. Many things I imagined differently and sometimes I really feel the need to express myself better than I am able to. But I am so happy to be part of this project and I can feel myself growing from day to day. The love and affection you can give to the children and the amount of love they give back to you is incredible and provides you with the needed motivation - I will stay blessed!

I will go on hiding maths results and I am happy about new ideas for non-formal ways of leraning and teaching, so feel free to hit me up!

Until then, o zi frumoasa and la revedere! Have a nice day and see you soon!

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